huszar



Marah 24, 1964 K. 2. HUSZAR 3,126,037

SIMPLIFIED MEANS FOR PRODUCING CONVOLUTION IN WIRE Filed Aug. 6, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. V flaw/41v Z 14052416,

B BY 26' all 1 MW ATTORNEYS.

FIG-(9. 21 I March 24, 1964 K. z.- HUSZAR 3,126,037

SIMPLIFIED MEANS FOR PRODUCING CONVOLUTIONS IN WIRE 2 sheets-sheet 2 Filed Aug. 6, 1959 mnnu INVENTOR. LMAN Z A uszAz,

ATTORNEVS:

United States Patent 3,126,037 SMPLIFIED MEANS FUR REQUIRING GONVDLUTIUNS IN WIRE Kalrnan Z. Huszar, Foster, Uhio Filed Aug- 6, 1959, Ser. No. 832,118 Ciaims. oi. res-res This invention resides in the provision of improved and simplified means for producing convolutions in wire and is related generally to the machine shown in my Patent 2,737,212 and in my copending application Serial No. 396,930 which was filed December 8, 1953 and which issued as Patent 2,898,949 on August 11, 1959.

In the machine of my first mentioned patent there is a cooperating pair of rotary bending elements, means for feeding a wire between said bending elements at a constant speed, laterally extending side supports for supporting the wire in a plane containing the axis of the bending elements and the said bending elements constituting open helices. In the machine of my said copending application solid worms are employed in place of the open helices, the plane of operation in which the convolutions are formed is located above the plane containing the center lines of the solid worms, and the laterally extending side supports for the wire are eliminated.

The instant invention has several aspects. One facet of the invention involves the realization that the means heretofore thought to be needed to feed the wire to the bending elements may in some instances, at least, be eliminated and the wire drawn through the bending elements by the bending elements themselves, such elements being directpower driven. This is particularly true when I incorporate the novel support means of this invention in the machine, which support means comprise elements located in transverse slots provided in the worms, the elements in said slots being either at, above or below, the plane in which the wire is fed through the bending elements. Also, in my said copending application, the bending elements or worms were formed with a cam section and a mandrel section, the cam section having a greater pitch than the mandrel section. With the instant invention it is possible to simplify this by making the cam and mandrel sections with the same pitch.

A very important object of my invention, therefore, is to provide a relatively simple machine for forming serpentine-like convolutions in wire in which the wire is pulled through the bending means by these very means and without the use of additional wire feeding means.

Another important object of this invention is to provide bending elements in the form of solid worms having slots located therein, which slots will receive supporting elements, and which improved worm is useful not only in the instant invention but also in the related machines shown in my said copending application and in my aforementioned patent.

Although in the broader view of the invention I contemplate bending wire by having the bending means furnish the pull needed to get the wire through such bending means, thus eliminating any force feeding of the wire by means separate from the bending means, in a more specific application I intend that this be done with bending worms of a particular kind, namely, those having transverse slots to receive supporting elements.

Yet another important object of my invention is to provide simple means for changing the convolutions imparted to the wire. Specifically it is desired to accomplish this by either shifting the axes of the bending elements relative to one another or by changing the plane in which the wire is supported between these bending elements.

It is, therefore, an object of my invention to provide means whereby the convolutions imparted to the wire may be changed as the wire passes between the bending elements so as to produce a convoluted wire having ornamental characteristics as desired, and so as to produce a convoluted wire in which there is a minimum of waste.

These and other aspects of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art during the course of the following description and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which drawings like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout and in which,

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary plan view, with parts broken away, of the improved and simplified machine for forming convolutions in wire,

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary section taken on the line 22 of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary section taken on the line 33 of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a support plate used with my invention,

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of one type of worm used with my invention,

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view, with parts broken away, showing one form of support means used with my invention,

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of a particular support means used in the arrangement of FIGURE 6,

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged, fragmentary perspective view showing the action of one type of bending element during the actual bending of the wire,

FIGURE 9 is a fragmentary perspective view of a pair of the simplified and preferred bending worms used with my invention,

FIGURE 10 is a sectional view generally similar to those of FIGURES 2 and 3 and showing a modification in which the axes of the bending elements may be moved in a horizontal plane with respect to one another.

FIGURE 11 is a fragmentary view of the modification of FIGURE 10 and showing the bending elements in another of their positions,

FIGURE 12 is a fragmentary perspective view of the novel convoluted wire which may be obtained by using the modifications of my invention,

FIGURE 13 is a fragmentary sectional view of another modification of my invention and including means for changing the position at which the wire is supported between the bending elements,

FIGURE 14 is a view showing the general arrangement of FIGURE 13 with the wire being supported in a different plane, and

FIGURE 15 is a fragmentary sectional View showing a cam arrangement for varying the position at which the wire is supported between the bending elements.

In the machine of this invention wire 20 is acted upon by bending means soas to give it the general shape indicated at 29:: in FIGURE 1. Wire in this shape, if made of suitable metal, can be used for various kinds of springs. Wire of this general configuration, however, often is used for ornamental purposes. When so used the metal need not be so tough as that used for springs. Although certain features of the instant invention may be incorporated with devices for forming serpentine-like springs, many of these features are primarily directed to the bending of wire which by its very nature is relatively easy to bend. The bending elements of FIGURE 1 comprise a pair of worms 21 slotted as indicated at 22. These worms are driven towards each other, that is, they are rotated in opposite directions. The drive means for these worms includes the bevel gears 23 and 24 which connect the worms with a drive motor, not shown. As shown in FIGURE 1 means 25 may be provided to wipe the wire as it is pulled through the apparatus. In FIGURE 8 I have shown rollers 26 designed to straighten the wire as it is pulled therethrough by the bending elements 21. The worms 21 are located on shafts 27 which have suitable bearings 28 in a stand or other framework 29. It will be understood that suitable means to support these worms at their other ends will also be provided.

In FIGURE 2 the worms 21 are shown as having a cam section 21a of greater pitch then the mandrel section 21b. In the preferred modification of FIGURE 9, however, the forms 30 have cam sections 3% which are simply continuations of the mandrel sections 3%. Their pitches are identical. The worms 39 are slotted as indicated at 31. The slots 22 in the worms 21, and slots 31 in the worms 36, extend through the flights of the worms, that is, through the cam or mandrel section 21:: and 21b or Stia and 3911, as the case may be. The purpose of these slots is to enable supporting elements to be provided for the wire as it passes between the worms. In FIGURES 2 and 3 these elements are shown as plates 32 fixed to a suitable base. The plates 32 have notches 33 to receive the hub of the worms. The central portion 34 of the plate constitutes the actual bearing surface for the wire. In FIGURES l and I have shown additional spacing worms 35 which may be employed if desired; they do not constitute a limitation on this invention and may be dispensed with if desired.

In FIGURE 6 I have illustrated another manner in which the slots may be utilized to provide support for the wire. In this arrangement the support member 36 has a pair of arcuate side members 37 which ride in the slots cut through the flights and into the hub of the respective worms.

Bending is accomplished by the cam section 21a engaging the wire 2tl and bending it about the cooperating mandrel section 2115 on the other worm. This is clearly illustrated in FIGURE 8 and is described in detail in both my aforementioned patent and said copending application. Particularly with soft wire the bending action accomplished by the worms as they are rotated towards one another is sufficient to pull the wire 26 from a source of supply and no additional or separate means for feeding the wire are needed. It is quite helpful, however, if suitable support for the wire is provided and this, of course, I have accomplished by slotting the worms so as to receive the supporting elements 32 or 36. It is to be understood, however, that other means may be located in these slots so as to support the wire at the desired level, and I do not intend to be limited to the particular supporting elements shown except insofar as they are specifically called for in the claims. Also, it will be understood that the worms of FIGURE 9 operate in similar manner in that the wire is engaged by the section 30a on one wire and bent around the section Siib on the opposite wire, whereafter the process is repeated by the section 343a on the last mentioned worm bending the wire about the corresponding section 3011. on the other worm. Although I have designated the cam and mandrel sections of the worms 30 at 30a and 3%, this has been done for sake of clarity only; actually these sections in this modification are of the same pitch as earlier described. In FIGURE 3 the portions. of the mandrel and cam through which the slot 22 passes are indicated at 22a.

Referring now to FIGURES -12 there is disclosed a modification of my invention. Sometimes it may be desired to produce, in the same strip of wire, convolutions which vary from one another. This is illustrated, by way of one example, in FIGURE 12 wherein the wire has been given various convolutions 26b, 26c and 20d. This is sometimes done simply in order to change the ornamental appearance of the wire. At other times it is done in order to save wire by having the larger wire consuming convolutions 20b separated from time to time along the strip by the smaller, less wire consuming convolutions 29d.

In general there are two basic ways in which the convolutions imparted to a wire may be made to vary in the manner just described. The bending elements may be moved towards and away from each other whereby to vary the convolutions imparted to the wire or the plane at which the wire is supported may be raised and lowered. The modification of FIGURES l0 and 11 illustrates one means by which the bending elements 40 may be moved relative to one another. The shafts M of these elements are located in bearings 42 which are slidabiy mounted on a bar 43. A cam shaft 44 is provided with cam tracks 45 which receive the cam followers 46 depending from the bearing members 42. In this modification there is a support plate 47 mounted on a base plate 48. The support plate 47 is received within vertical slots provided in the bending elements 4%. The actual wire supporting surface is indicated at 49. The bearings 42 extend through slots 5i? in the base plate 4%. The cam shaft 44 may be driven by suitable means, not shown, connectable to the gearing generally indicated at 51.

In FIGURE 10 the bending elements 40 are shown in the position at which they are the closest to one another, in which position the large convolutions 2012 are imparted to the wire 2%. The supporting surface 49 of the support member 47 must be wide enough to support the wire 265 when the bending elements are in this position. As the cam shaft 44 is rotated the bending elements are moved to the position shown in FIGURE 11, in which position the small convolution 20d is imparted to the wire 2% Again the same support surface 49 will serve the wire 23.

It will be understood that the convolutions may be regular or irregular, as desired, and as determined, in this example, by the type of cam track 45 provided in the cam shaft 44. The slots 5% in the plate 48 are wide enough to accommodate the bearing members 42 as they are shifted back and forth on the bar 43 by reason of the cam follower 46 being engaged in the track 45. If desired the speed at which the cam shaft id is rotated may be varied or it may even be stopped at a desired location if a wire having the same convolutions is desired. In any event it will also be understood that the drive for the shafts 41 of the bending elements 4t will be such as to accommodate these shafts whether they are in the position of FIG- URE 10 or that of FIGURE 11 or at some position in between.

In the modification of FIGURES 13 through 15 the changes in the convolutions imparted to the wire are obtained by varying the position at which the wire is supported with respect to the bending elements. The bend.- ing elements 6% are mounted on shafts 61 supported in bearings 62 fixed to a plate 63. The bending elements are provided with the vertical slots hereinbefore mentioned. The wire support element 64 extends through these vertical slots. This element is provided with a slot 65 in which the wire 25) is received. The support member 64 is pivotally connected at 66 to a cam member 67 fixed to a shaft 68 which is rotated by suitable means, not shown.

When the support element 64 is in the position indicated in FIGURE 13, in which position the wire 2t is supported substantially at the level of the center lines of the shafts 61, the larger convolutions 2012 are imparted to the wire. When the support n4 is moved vertically to the position of FIGURE 14, the wire 20 is supported at a substantial distance above the center lines of the bending elements 60, in which position the small convolutions 20d are imparted to the wire. It will be apparent that other convolutions may be obtained depending on the level of the support slot 65 which is determined by the vertical position to which the element 64 is shifted.

Another cam arrangement for imparting movement to the element 64 is somewhat diagrammatically illustrated in FIGURE 15. This arrangement includes a rotatable cam member 70 mounted on a shaft 71 and having a track 72 to receive the follower 73 fixed on the member 64.

5 The nature of the convolutions is determined by the type of track 72.

It is believed that the operation of the invention has been fully and clearly described above. It will be apparent that modifications may be made in the invention without departing from the scope and spirit thereof. It is also to be understood that while I have shown the invention as embodied in certain particular structures and arrangements, the invention is not to be limited to these particular structures and arrangements except insofar as they are specifically set forth in the subjoined claims. Also, while it is a particular feature of my invention to utilize slotted worms in which supporting elements are located, other features of the invention include the use of the worms themselves to pull the wire without the use of separate and additional means for this purpose.

Having thus described my invention, what is claimed as new and what is desired to be protected by United States Letters Patent is:

1. In a machine for bending wire and including a pair of parallel worms having meshing flights and means to rotate said worms in opposite directions, the improvement which comprises supporting elements for the wire, said supporting elements being located in slots provided in said worms at right angles to the axis of said worms and extending through a portion, at least, of said flights, said supporting elements being fixed against movement axially of said worms.

2. The machine of claim 1 in which said supporting elements comprise vertical plates supported from said worms.

3. The machine of claim 1 in which said supporting elements comprise vertical plates supported from a base situated below said worms.

4. The machine of claim 1 including means to move said Worms toward and away from one another.

5. The machine of claim 1 including means to raise and lower said supporting elements.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,832,392 Spitz Apr. 29, 1958 2,868,236 Smith Ian. 13, 1959 2,898,949 Huszar Aug. 11, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,465,208 Canada Aug. 14, 1923 706,390 Great Britain Mar. 31, 1954 

1. IN A MACHINE FOR BENDING WIRE AND INCLUDING A PAIR OF PARALLEL WORMS HAVING MESHING FLIGHTS AND MEANS TO ROTATE SAID WORMS IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS, THE IMPROVEMENT WHICH COMPRISES SUPPORTING ELEMENTS FOR THE WIRE, SAID SUPPORTING ELEMENTS BEING LOCATED IN SLOTS PROVIDED IN SAID WORMS AT RIGHT ANGLES TO THE AXIS OF SAID WORMS AND EXTENDING THROUGH A PORTION, AT LEAST, OF SAID FLIGHTS, SAID SUPPORTING ELEMENTS BEING FIXED AGAINST MOVEMENT AXIALLY OF SAID WORMS. 